1 Now the serpent was subtler than any other wild creature that YHVH Gods had made. He said to the woman, "Did Gods say, 'You shall not eat of any tree of the garden'?"
The serpent symbolizes the desire toward Self --- Selfishness.
2 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden;
3 but Gods said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'"
The soul restates what the creative forces said about the creating of an Ego (eating of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil).
4 But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die.
5 For Gods know that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like Gods, knowing good and evil."
The selfish urge claims that by creating an Ego, humans will be like creative forces because they can sense duality.
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate.
When one delights in knowledge that is less than Truth, one's capacity to receive inspiration direct from Divine Mind is lessened or lost. Both Love (woman) and Wisdom (man) become involved in a counterfeit knowledge through "eating" ideas inappropriate to the divine nature.
7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons.
The "eyes" are the perceptive faculty of mind, and unless the perception is established in Truth one sees or perceives only duality.
8 And they heard the sound of YHVH Gods walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of YHVH Gods among the trees of the garden.
The newly formed Ego caused Soul and Consciousness to fear the very forces that created them. Though they still perceived them, they saw them as separate from themselves and did not understand them.
9 But YHVH Gods called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?"
“The collective forces of creation” did not recognize the Ego because it was a creation of man’s, not theirs. They were not able to find the Ego until the Ego responded to them. The Ego now exists where the Divine Mind once was.
10 And he said, "I heard the sound of thee in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself."
Here the Ego confesses it’s fear of the “collective forces of creation” and that it deliberately hid from them because of that fear.
11 He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?"
12 The man said, "The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate."
The Ego says that it was the soul that first created it, by altering perception into duality.
13 Then YHVH Gods said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent beguiled me, and I ate."
The soul told “the collective forces of creation” that the selfish urge tempted her to create the Ego.
14 YHVH Gods said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all cattle, and above all wild animals; upon your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.
“The collective forces of creation” tell the selfish urge that it will go no higher than the physical plane, which is symbolized by dust. It will only be nurtured there and no higher.
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel."
The Soul will seek Spirit and the Divine, while the selfish urge seeks earthly power and possessions. The Spirit will weaken the selfish urge and the selfish urge will weaken spiritual growth.
16 To the woman he said, "I will greatly multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you."
Due to her sense of duality, the Soul will now experience pain. She shall continue to desire to unite with the masculine principle called Spirit and will be dominated by it.
17 And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.
Because the Spiritual Man created the Ego through the Soul, it has corrupted the scheme of Creation. It shall live in a physical body and have to work hard to be able to sustain it’s life in that body and obtain food.
19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return."
The physical man must work all the days of his life to be able to live. Eventually he will die and the body will decay, becoming "dust" once again, through the process of decomposition.
20 The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.
The Man remembers faint traces of the Spiritual life it had before the Ego and names his wife to reflect that knowledge. He acknowledges the female principle as the source of his new life.
21 And YHVH Gods made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins, and clothed them.
“The collective forces of creation” give physical bodies to the Spirit and Soul whom he had just instructed about that existence.
22 Then YHVH Gods said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever" –
“The collective forces of creation” acknowledged the change in consciousness produced by perceiving duality. Man is kept from taking of the Tree of Life while in this state because to do so would corrupt the forces of creation and produce a selfish but spiritually powerful person. These are the giants talked about later in this book – the Nephilim.
23 therefore YHVH Gods sent him forth from the Garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken.
The purpose of humans incarnating is to care for the physical world.
24 They drove out the man; and at the East of the Garden of Eden he placed the Cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.
The "East" is the internal. "Cherubim" refers to protection of the sacred life. The inner spiritual life is protected from the outer, coarser consciousness, or Ego. The "flame of a sword" is the divine idea or Word of God. Man unites with the inner Word or sacred life through the Divine Mind.